Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Dr. Samuel Annor, has disclosed that the Scheme is broke and unable to pay service providers. “The NHIA is at a stage where one will say it almost bankrupt; in that we have no reserves and we owe people so much.

And this has come about because we have increased our membership so much but we have not increased the funding appropriately.” He was speaking at a staff Friday to introduce three new Deputy Chief Executives for the NHIA.

The Executives include Francis Owusu in-charge of Finance and Investment, Lydia Baaba Selby, in-charge of Operations and Mrs. Yaa Pokuaa Baiden in-charge of Human Resources and Administration. Dr. Samuel Annor explained that “the reserves we had probably at the close of 2009 is all gone because of increment in membership drive. So now there are no reserves.”

He also attributed the scheme’s inability to pay its service providers to the depletion of the reserves.

“If there were reserves of course we would called on the reserves to pay the service providers. Thus, the Chief Executive is concerned about the solidity of the scheme. “Apart from not having a drive, we owe people so much. So this Scheme certainly cannot be said to be in a very stable condition”.

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Service Providers Angry

The Scheme’s service providers have in the recent past threatened to boycott supplies to the Scheme over outstanding arrears.

The Scheme owes service providers to the tune of GHC1.2billion. The Chamber of Pharmacy Ghana and the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) early this month threatened to boycott services to the scheme over the debt.

This was notwithstanding that the Health Minister Kwaku Agyemang-Manu said a payment plan had been reached on defraying the debt.